Thursday Apple Rumors: iPhablets Coming Next Year

by Christopher Freeburn | June 13, 2013 9:46 am

[1]Here are your Apple rumors[2] and AAPL news items for today:

Bigger: Sources tell Reuters that Apple (AAPL[3]) is contemplating the development of a number of new iPhones with larger screens over the next year[4] in order to compete with global rival Samsung. Under consideration are iPhones with 4.7-inch and 5.7-inch screens, which would be launched in 2014. The company has reportedly approached its manufacturing partners about producing such phones. Apple is also planning to launch a cheaper iPhone that will be available in multiple colors and come with a $99 price tag. That iPhone is may launch in September, but could also be delayed until next year. Rumors have swirled for months that Apple is working on a cheaper iPhone to compete in emerging markets. Sales of larger-screen smartphones — so called “phablets” — have risen sharply over the past year. Samsung has enjoyed considerable success with Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 2 smartphones, which feature 5-inch and 5.5-inch screens, respectively. Speaking at an event earlier this year, Tim Cook noted that the large-screen smartphones came with “trade-offs” and that Apple wouldn’t make one until it could overcome those. Apple did boost the screen size for the iPhone 5 to 4-inches, compared to 3.5-inches for all previous iPhone models. The sources told Reuters that while Apple was having internal discussions about producing the larger iPhones, it remained uncertain if the company would actually develop and launch the phones.

Counter Argument: On Wednesday, Apple introduced evidence at its e-book price-fixing trial that undermined a key piece of evidence used to support the government’s case[5], AllThingsD notes. The Department of Justice has accused Apple of conspiring with five publishing companies to set prices for e-book titles sold on its iBookstore. Prosecutors had revealed an email from Apple’s late CEO Steve Jobs to Apple Senior Vice President Eddie Cue that appeared to show the company trying to set e-book prices. However, Apple has pointed out that the email submitted by prosecutors was a draft, not the actual email that Jobs ultimately sent. Apple has introduced the final version of the email, which discusses in detail Amazon‘s (AMZN[6]) pricing arrangements for e-books and Apple’s plans to prevent the iBookstore from ending up at a disadvantage when compared to Amazon, the dominant e-book retailer. The final version of the email allows Apple’s legal team to contend that the government is distorting the company’s actual communications with media companies to build its case. The five publishers named in the original complaint have all settled with the government.

Delegated: A large number of the icons shown off during the unveiling of Apple’s new version of iOS at this week’s Worldwide Developers Conference were created by the company’s marketing department[7], TheNextWeb notes. Head designer Jony Ive is overseeing a total overhaul of the iOS interface for the upcoming release of iOS 7, which is expected to be released this fall. A number of commentators noted that the icons displayed during demos of iOS 7 at the WWDC were oddly lacking Apple’s usual artistic and content-hinting touch. Ive apparently had the company’s print and web marketing team choose the appearance and colors of the new icons, which were later refined by the app design team. The designs that were unveiled at the WWDC are still in development and represent a snapshot of iOS 7’s evolution. The appearance of the icons in iOS 7’s final release may be significantly different.

For more about the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors[8] stories.